Global to Local Lessons: Why Savings is So Important in the U.S.
Savings Is More Important in the U.S. Than Most Countries
The importance of Price, Promo, Rewards in driving better long-term, multi-dimensional results is higher in the U.S. than in most developed countries. Exceptions are Colombia and Canada, the only two countries where the importance of savings is higher. We know this because dunnhumby conducts RPI studies in over a dozen countries, each year, around the world.
The higher importance of savings in the U.S. grocery market is driven by several environmental factors:
- Long-run inflation rates are associated with a greater importance of Price, Promo, and Rewards. The U.S. is higher on this measure (2.4% long-run rate, which is higher, than all mainland European countries and Canada). Colombia is the highest on this measure (7.1% long-run rates).
- Younger populations are associated with a greater importance of Price, Promo, and Rewards. The U.S. population, while aging, still has a higher proportion of people under 25 (a group composed of dependents or people just starting their careers), than all countries except Brazil and Colombia
- Relative insecurity of basic human needs – food, nutrition, medical care, and housing – is associated with a greater importance of Price, Promo, Rewards. The U.S. has higher insecurity rates of these basic human needs, according to the Global Social Progress Imperative Study, than all countries except Brazil and Colombia
With Colombia coming in the highest on all three of these measures, it’s no surprise that discounters D1 and Ara have completely flipped the market there over the past 20 years. In 2006, these discounters were just entering the market and held very little share, and incumbent supermarket formats held 54%. In 2025, in Colombia, supermarkets now hold 13% market share, and discounters hold 62% market share. In the US, supermarkets have managed to hold their ground better, seeing their share slip from 52% to 37% of total grocery sales.
The latter reason regarding the relative insecurity of basic human needs in the U.S. is particularly troubling and demands a closer look. We can examine geographical differences within the U.S. to understand where basic needs are less secure, tipping retailers off to where the need to lean deeper into savings is most urgent (it’s urgent everywhere, but especially so in some places).
Food Insecurity Felt by Some, Financial Insecurity by Most
In the dunnhumby consumer trends tracker, a study run 3x a year on stated needs and behaviors of grocery shoppers across the Americas, we saw in August 2025 that 17% of grocery shoppers in the U.S. reported not being able to afford to buy enough food to feed themselves and their families. In December of 2024, this number was 14% (very close to the 13% of total Americans food insecure in 2024, reported by the Living Wage Institute). Our consumer trends tracker (CTT) measure is a measure of food insecurity.
17% of the total U.S. population is equal to about 58 million people. This group of people is populous enough to form a nation of hungry that is bigger than the entire country of Canada or the same size as the country of Italy. Food affordability clearly is going to be a dominate driver of where people shop and how much they buy in the U.S. grocery market. For many people, variety, convenience, or better customer service would be a luxury.
Beyond having enough to eat and being food insecure, an even larger proportion of the population feels financially insecure. In our CTT, 56% of people said they wouldn’t be able to cover an unexpected $400 expense without having to borrow money to pay for it. While many of these people aren’t going without food, they’ll likely be feeling pressure to save every penny when budgeting for groceries, since there is little room for error in their overall household budgets. This number is also 3 points higher than in December of 2024, as of August of 2025.
At ~$73k average income per person, the U.S. is around the 7th richest country in the world, by that measure. So why are so many people food-insecure? Turns out that the average income per person likely isn’t enough to cover basic living expenses. According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, in a modestly priced place to live like Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, Arkansas, the required annual income before taxes to cover basic living expenses for a family of 3 is $84,365 per year (this dollar amount doesn’t include costs for savings, retirement, emergencies, vacations, etc. – in other words, this $84k yields a spartan existence, where people exist to work and pay taxes). Meanwhile, 41% of these households make below this. This affordability gap, where most people – whether hourly workers of salaried workers – don’t make a living wage, is a story that plays out across cities and metro areas across the U.S., for households of all composition types.
Food, Financial Insecurity Not Evenly Felt
Where is financial and food insecurity the greatest? The story here is less of an urban-rural divide and more of a socioeconomic class division. The top 20 most food and financially insecure DMAs have nearly equal proportions of rural residents, on average, as the bottom 20 most insecure (39% vs. 34%), but income inequality is 25% higher, the proportion of Hispanic residents is 2x higher (20% vs. 9%), and the proportion of non-Hispanic black residents are 4x higher (21% vs. 5%). Examples of these relatively insecure market areas include: Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville-McAllen, Texas, and Shreveport, Louisiana. In these markets, around 80% of residents shop Savings-First retailers, and around only 5% shop Quality-First Non-Conventionals. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Washington D.C., the 5th most financially and food secure area in the U.S., sees 62% shop Savings-First retailers and 36% of residents shop Quality-First Non-Conventionals. It is telling that even in relatively less price sensitive markets, Savings-First retailers as a group – like Walmart, Aldi – are the top draw, while Quality-First Non-Conventionals – which includes retailers like Whole Foods, Sprouts – appeal to a minority of residents.
This is because the gap between household income and a living wage still exists in these relatively more secure areas. In Washington, D.C. and its greater metropolitan area, the annual income required to cover basic expenses for a family is $113,313 per year. Meanwhile, 38% of these households make below that. Not as big of a gap as other areas, like Fayetteville, AR, but still a gap.
Implications for retailers? Saving customers money on groceries as a driver in who wins and why is here to stay in the U.S. Retailers of all positioning on the Value Core cannot rest in sharpening their positioning on Price, Promo, and Rewards.
